crxaddikt

i don't hear the noise when key is just turned with engine off, but when i start the car the alt whine was is present, but only in the 10" subwoofer, not the 4 speakers, and i think its not as loud as before, but the main thing is, that its still there.

here is my setup and the things i have tried already:

one 10" sub in a box, alpine cassette deck w/ changer controller, clarion eq,
alpine cd changer
new pioneer 6.5 spkrs in front doors, old stock infinity kappas in rear
2 rockford fosgate amps

brand new battery and alternator (autozone, remanufactured i think)

i upgraded the engine to chassis ground to 4 gauge, (i ordered some parts online, and i did'nt realise 4 gauge was that big, but i guess its ok.)

new battery cables equal guage pos & neg
and negative terminal is grounded at body and trans

new grounds 8 gauge on both amps grounded individually on paintfree spot

rca and speaker wires and cd changer wire run through drivers side

power wire run on passenger side along with amp remote turn on wires

for the first amp that runs 4 stock spkrs, i have new monster cable rca interconnects on input of fronts, and older phoenix gold rcas on input for rear

on the sub amp i have monster rca for input, they are still about 4 yrs old, but they look good condition, and they are the thick blue kind with gold tips, just like the new ones i got for the other amp.
head unit is grounded to same spot as eq on the metal of the center console behind the deck, (theres a black ground wire coming off the white clip on the back of the eq and also a black ground wire coming off the white clip on the HU, and they meet and go into one wire, then they are grounded with one ring terminal)

I did find some culprits that i definately thought were the problem along the way, like once i found that part of the speaker wire ran diagonally across underneath the carpet towards the passenger side and crossed right over the power wire, and i moved it, .........plus i noticed another area where the rca crossed the power wire up right by the amp, but after fixing those its funny how the noise is still did'nt go away.
one thing i did'nt do yet is run a ground from the head unit to the amp, i can do that if it might really help, but even if i did, i don't know where to connect it to the amp? since there is already a ground wire on there going to the chassis?

i tried to include everything, but if anyone can think of anything, i would appreciate it, and sorry for all this typing, but if you can think of any little details i might of missed, or that i can try please tell me. thanks

i just can't think what else to try, i just need to know if i covered everything that i can try to diagnose this, just need more tips or direction

Modified by crxaddikt at 10:34 AM 12/4/2003


Modified by crxaddikt at 10:37 AM 12/4/2003

Guam_CiviC619

First things first!!! Change those grounds to 4 gauge also. You want the same size power and ground, although I don't think this will get rid of engine whine. Second, it's not necessary to mount grounds in different locations, you can use the same grounding point, and you don't need a ground from player to the amp(s). But since you already have two good grounding points go ahead and use them. Furthermore, it seems as though your player is kind of old seeing as how it has a cassette player, also is your player hooked up via an aftermarket harness?. Since engine whine is not coming from mids and highs I would first suggest bypassing the EQ and running the RCA straight from the player to sub amp. If there is no engine whine then obviously the EQ is the culprit. If engine whine still exists then swap RCA with mid/high amp and sub amp, if engine whine then exists in mid/high speakers your player is the culprit, if it no longer exists after swaping RCA's then the subamp is the culprit. I hope this helps.

crxaddikt

thanks for a reply,
i was trying to make it detailed, but it probably looked like to much for people to read.

first off, only my engine to chassis ground is 4 guage, only cause i ordered the wire online, and meant to get smaller, my power wire and amp grounds are 8 gauge, so i will change my engine to chassis to 8 also just to match when i get home today.

my amps were previously grounded at the same point, but i switched to independently grounded

here is a link showing a picture of the head unit i have,

http://www.dmmotors.com/prod_s...61241

......., i like everything about it, its probably about from 1998-99, but to me thats not that old, i chose to get cassette, cause i have a bunch of old cassettes and dj mix tapes, but also it has a cd changer controller so i can play either.

honestly i don't know whether my player is hooked up using an aftermarket harness or not, how can i check if i do? there is just a small white clip coming out the back and also has two rcas and a place to hook my changer signal wire into.

as far as running the player straight to the amp (not through eq), i have tried that, but now that i think of it, i only tried it with my non-sub amp (the one that powers the 4 speakers), but i think i will try it again on just my sub amp when i get home, ........it is so weird, cause i remember in the middle of trying to figure all this out, there was one time when the whine was only in the front speakers and not in the sub at all??? but now its the opposite?

so basically i think i am elimating the eq, since the noise is still there when i run the radio straight to the amp, actually now that i think of it, i even tried hooking a portable jam box's rca output straight into the eq's input (without using car player), and i think i recall the noise was still there, but for some reason i don't remember that good, but i would think if the noise went away after doing that, i probably would of replaced the head unit.

its funny i was on some web site about alternator noise troubleshooting, and they mentioned about swapping rca wires from both amps and i was going to try it, you mentioned it as well, ..............the monster rcas from my non-sub amp are brand new, but the rca's going into my sub amp's input are about as old as 1998-99, but they look good condition.

thanks for your tips, as i said i will try anything i have'nt already, so everything helps

one thing i wanted to ask people was, .......does it matter if my rca and speaker wires are run near my fusebox or near all the wires around that area above the dead pedal? , cause it seems like there is a lot going on around that area, and also my alarm sensor is there, also another thing to add is that my alarm wires are run right next to my speaker wires and rca wires, would this affect anything?

Guam_CiviC619

you dont need to change your battery ground to 8 keep it at 4 you can tell if your player is using an aftermarket harness by looking at its connections. If you look where the players harness hooks up to the cars harness, you should see that the wires coming from the player are spliced (using butt cons, crimp caps, etc,) this then should form the harness for the player that makes it plug-n-play for your cars factory wiring. http://www.caraudioforum.com/index.php this link is, in my opinion, the best technical resource for car audio knowledge. Someone there should be able to help you if I haven't found your solution. heres another link to troubleshoot http://www.caraudioforum.com/s...97263

crxaddikt

just tried a few things, and i must not of heard it that well, but now i notice the noise is'nt just the sub, its actually on all 4 speakers and the sub, its just that its not as loud on the 4 speakers, i unhooked the sub amp's signal wires and listened and thats how i knew.

so, i hooked my players rcas directly to the subamp and it still had noise, then i hooked the player directly to the other amp that powers the 4 speakers, and still i had the noise, so the equilizer is eliminated for sure i would say.

now about the thing you said about swapping rca's, .........well now i don't think it applies since its not only the sub, right? since the noise is in all the speakers

i wish i had a head unit from someone to borrow to see if mine is bad, but i don't know of anyone with one just laying around.

i did'nt mean i switched my battery cables, i didnt touch those, i just meant my engine to chassis ground from the valve cover, which i had as 4 gauge, and i was going to switch to 8 gauge since most of my other stuff is 8 guage (power wire, amp grounds, etc..), since you said i need all the same gauge.

on the back of my head unit, i did'nt see any butt connectors, but i did see some parts with electrical tape on it, and a big fat white clip which was hanging down, plus some cut wires also, so honestly i don't know if its stock or aftermarket wiring harness, thanks for the links, i think i was on there earlier today looking around, but i did'nt make a topic, cause i am sure everyone is tired of these ground noise topics being posted.

crxaddikt

forget about this post, its already been solved by someone on sounddomain forum, and it turned out all i simply had to do was put a new ground wire from head unit to chassis, cause the shop who previously did the install had it grounded to a metal bracket behind the head unit, but it was'nt exactly touching the body of the car, so that plus i unhooked my antenna since its broken anyway.